Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise an issue with child safeguarding in schools of which I have recently been made aware. As the House will be aware, parents in Ireland have a right to be informed of issues relating to their children and to be consulted on educational matters. Both the Constitution and the Education Act 1998 are clear on the requirement for parents to be kept advised of all relevant issues. However, I have been reliably informed this is not happening in a serious way, as there are cases of schools making logistical decisions relating to children under their care without the knowledge or consent of the child’s parents.

This occurs when a child or children in a school tell their teacher they no longer self-identify with their biological sex and wish to be referred to by a new name and pronouns and to be treated, for all intents and purposes, as if they were a student who is a member of the opposite sex. As far as I am aware, there is no set national procedure for handling these instances. There are many resources and guidelines, none of which is independently drafted but instead are gifted by advocacy groups such as BeLonGTo and TENI, and individual schools seem to be left to their own devices when handling this matter.

Some schools will involve the parents and have a meeting so that everyone can make themselves heard and the parents' wishes can be respected. Other schools do not feel the need for this and take it upon themselves to socially transition the student from one gender to the other, sometimes without even informing the child's parents, possibly for fear they may disagree with and object to this approach. The most serious issue, however, relates to the logistical consequences of actively pursuing this social transition, including access to toilets and changing rooms of the opposite sex, participation in sex-specific social, personal and health education classes, and in the case of school trips, accommodation in the sleeping area of the opposite sex, and all the while not telling the parents of other children affected that this will be happening.

A recent webinar held by The Countess, a new group advocating for women and children, brought this information to parents and members of the school community, and they were inundated with questions as parents voiced their serious concerns with this state of affairs. We must ensure the highest standard of care possible for all children, including the children themselves who may be experiencing confusion around their identity. After all, anywhere from 63% to 94% of children who experience gender dysphoria will no longer experience such feelings by their late teens. Those children are not well served by social transition, which is a powerful psychological intervention, placing them on a pathway to puberty blockers and hormone therapy. I recently discovered that if a girl is given testosterone for a mere three months, she will experience irreversible facial and chest hair growth for life, which is a tall price to pay for a decision made in one's teens.

It is time to have the Minister for Education before us in the House to explain her plan for tackling this most serious matter, which will become more commonplace in our schools and all our sports clubs in the country if left unaddressed.